Hurricane watch includes New Orleans

Miami - Forecasters say a hurricane watch has been extended to include the New Orleans metro area as Tropical Storm Isaac makes its way toward the Florida Keys.

The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said on Sunday morning that the watch area now stretches from east of Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Florida Panhandle.

Forecasters have said that Isaac could be a dangerous Category 2 hurricane by the time it makes landfall over the northern Gulf Coast. That is expected to happen sometime late on Tuesday or early on Wednesday.

The outer bands of Isaac have already started lashing South Florida and the Florida Keys. Tropical storm-force winds extend up to 330kmfrom the storm's centre.